Month: May 2018

The Chemical Safety Board released its report on the Arkema chemical incident last week. You may recall that during the heavy rains in the Houston area following Hurricane Harvey last year, the Arkema chemical plant was flooded and lost all ability to control the temperature of reactive organic peroxides. The company evacuated the plant and…

Today is Memorial Day when we remember those who gave their lives defending this country and the freedoms we defend every day. Workers Memorial Day is passed, but remember that some of these workers are veterans, and others who defend the country internally, like NYPD Officer, Scott Blackshaw, who died of cancer related to his work…

Don Blankenship,who spent a year in jail because 29 miners died in his Upper Big Branch mine? What good is he doing? Well, Blankenship has announced that he’s running as a third-party candidate against against Senator Joe Manchin (D) in West Virginia’s Senate election this November. Analysts fear this will split the Republican vote in…

Sometimes you just have to wonder why House Republicans even bother. Yesterday they wasted the taxpayer’s money holding a ridiculous hearing on“Regulatory Reform: Unleashing Economic Opportunity for Workers and Employers,” — basically an Obama hate-fest. You can watch it here if you have an hour and a half of your life that isn’t worth living.…

Adding tragedy to catastrophe, Patterson UTI CEO Andy Hendricks is receiving only a paltry $2.25 million bonus for 2017 because the safety portion of his bonus calculation (and their top executives) was eliminated as a result of the explosion that killed five Patterson UTI workers in Quinton, Oklahoma on January 22. According to Energywire, The company’s six…

One of the first actions of the Republican Congress after Trump’s election was to repeal OSHA’s recently issued “Volks Rule” that allowed the agency to cite companies for continuing failure to accurately record injuries and illnesses. Now an article by Will Evans at Reveal shows how real workers are suffering because of automaker Tesla’s failure…

Tree trimmer dies in accident at Stanford housing complex Palo Alto, CA — A 36-year-old man died while working on trees at a Stanford University housing complex in Palo Alto on Saturday afternoon, Palo Alto fire officials said Monday. He has been identified as Jesus Silva Romero of San Jose, according to the Santa Clara…

The House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections will hold a hearing tomorrow on reducing protections for the American workforce. Titled “Regulatory Reform: Unleashing Economic Opportunity for Workers and Employers,” the Republican majority has invited Karen Harned, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action…

CSB Chair Vanessa Sutherland announced her resignation today. She gave no reason. Sutherland had more than two years left in her 5-year term. Spending more time with her family? Forced to resign by an evil chemical industry cabal? A job offer that she couldn’t refuse? Who knows? If you have any good gossip, you know…